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Gender Scales |
The Gender-Equitable Men (GEM) Scale Social norms that promote gender inequality, such as those that encourage men to have multiple partners or to maintain control over the behavior of their female partners, increase both young men and young women’s risk of HIV, STIs, and partner violence. Changing such gender norms (i.e. the societal messages that dictate appropriate or expected behavior for males and females) is increasingly recognized as an important strategy to prevent the spread of HIV. Horizons and Promundo developed the Gender-Equitable Men (GEM) Scale (full GEM Scale and scoring procedures, Word or PDF) to directly measure attitudes toward “gender-equitable” norms. The scale is designed to provide information about the prevailing norms in a community as well as the effectiveness of any program that hopes to influence them (Pulerwitz and Barker 2008). The development of the GEM Scale was grounded in formative, qualitative research on gender norms with young men in low-income settings in Rio de Janeiro (Barker 2000 and 2001). Horizons and Promundo conducted a second study with men in both low and middle-income neighborhoods in Rio de Janeiro to test 34 items on attitudes toward gender norms (Instituto Promundo and Instituto Noos 2003). After performing factor analyses and other psychometric tests, 24 items were selected to constitute the GEM Scale—17 items in an “inequitable” subscale and seven items in an “equitable” subscale (alpha > .80 for the full Scale). The research team operationalized the term “gender-equitable” as a man who:
The GEM Scale is intended to (1) be multi-faceted and measure multiple domains within the construct of gender norms, with a focus on support for equitable or inequitable gender norms; (2) address program goals related to sexual and intimate relationships, and sexual and reproductive health and disease prevention; (3) be broadly applicable yet culturally sensitive, so indicators can be applied in and compared across varied settings and be sufficiently relevant for specific cultural contexts; and (4) be easily administered so that a number of actors—including the organizations that are implementing the interventions—can take on this type of evaluation. During an intervention study conducted with young men in Brazil in 2003–2004, the full GEM Scale was applied in a baseline survey. Responses to the 17-item subscale of attitudes toward gender norms that were phrased as inequitable had a great deal of variability, showing that some young men agreed and some did not. In contrast, the great majority of the young men agreed at baseline with the seven norm statements that were phrased as more equitable, which indicated that they could not improve on that subscale at follow up. In addition, the inequitable subscale was deemed more reliable (alpha = .78) compared to the equitable subscale (alpha < .60). Based on the responses of the young men, the inequitable norms subscale was used as the gender norms measure in the intervention study. The intervention study participants were more gender-equitable at baseline than the men included in the original representative sample based on their GEM Scale responses, likely because they were self-selected (i.e., they agreed to participate in the intervention.). Baseline findings revealed that agreement with inequitable gender norms was associated with greater risk. Respondents with a higher GEM Scale score (indicating greater support for inequitable gender norms) were significantly more likely to report sexually transmitted infection symptoms and physical and sexual violence against a partner than respondents with lower GEM Scale scores The GEM Scale was successfully adapted for use in India to measure attitudes toward gender norms among young men in Mumbai. Through formative research findings and a review of the literature on women’s status in India, additional India-specific items were proposed. For the adaptation, 34 items, including 17 original GEM Scale items and 17 new items, were used to finally select 15 items through factor analysis and internal consistence checks (Chronbach alpha .78)1. The India specific items include:
In addition to Brazil (PDF of Report) and India (PDF of Report), the Horizons Program has found that the GEM Scale is a useful and sensitive tool for measuring attitudes toward gender norms in Ethiopia (Journal article forthcoming). Other research using the GEM Scale has been carried out in Kenya and Nicaragua and results are forthcoming. In subsequent studies, the full GEM Scale or the inequitable subscale could be used, depending upon the characteristics of the study population.
1A paper describing the Indian adaptation of the GEM Scale is currently under preparation. Barker, Gary. 2000. “Gender equitable boys in a gender inequitable world: reflections from a qualitative research and program development with young men in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil,” Sexual and Relationship Therapy 15(3): 263–282. Barker, Gary. 2001. “Cool your head, man: preventing gender based violence in favelas,” Development 44(3): 94–98. Instituto Promundo and Instituto Noos. 2003. Men, gender-based violence and sexual and reproductive health: A study with men in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Rio de Janeiro: Insitutito Promundo and Instituto Noos. Pulerwitz, Julie and Gary Barker. 2008. "Measuring attitudes toward gender norms among young men in Brazil: Development and psychometric evaluation of the GEM Scale," Men and Masculinities 10: 322–338. |
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Gender-Equitable Men Scale |
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